User blog:John Pan/2S74
2S74 Normally, more firepower means getting another SPH; the Russians disagree. It just means strapping another gun onto the original gun. The 2S74 is a member of the -120 chassis family. Crew Composition *Driver *Gunner *Commander Sensory The 2S74 also gets indirect sights for its two howitzers. The Driver gets a nightvision-capable navigation camera to assist his forward driving. The SPH also gets a GLONASS “Blue-force” tracker/ navigation system. Upgrades Direct-Fire Sight Sometime, the tanks come too close for comfort. And this is exactly the time when a direct shot would be nice. This is exactly why the 2S74 can be equipped with a direct-fire anti-tank telescope. Allows it to fire dedicated 152mm tandem-HEAT shells at enemy tanks. Makes it an extremely effective improvised assault gun. Armament 2A74 (2) A development of the 2A65, the 2A74 is essentially the Russian version of the M777. It is essentially a lightweight version of its predecessor, being small, much lighter, and therefore, more mobile. 2S74s mount the hydraulically-autoloaded titanium alloy L/39 barrel version of the howitzer. To reduce recoil, the gun has a prominent muzzle break. The gun can fire 152mm HE shells on targets up to 20km away. Upgrades 2A148 Identical to the 2A74, except the barrel gets extended to 52-caliber-lengths, increasing velocity, and hence, range. Doubles effective firing range. Extended-Range Base Bleed Shell drag comes from two places: the nose of the shell, as it pushes the air out of its way at supersonic speeds. Shaping the shell properly can reduce this greatly. However, another powerful source of drag is the vacuum left behind the shell due to its blunt base. Base Bleed is a way to remedy this: a small ring of metal extends just past the base, and the area in the rear of the shell is filled with a small gas generator. The gas generator provides little net thrust—it's not designed to be a rocket—but simply fills the area behind the shell with pressure, dramatically reducing the drag due to the vacuum. Enhances range by 30%. Krasnopol 152mm The Krasnopol 152mm laser-guided shell allows 2S74s (should there be a unit with a laser target designator, commonly Command Squads) to rain incredibly accurate fire on targets from maximum range. Protection The 2S74's armor is where the design truly shines. The entire chassis is made of high-strength steel (containing 8% molybdenum) alloy, providing incredible levels of tensile strength for half the weight of normal steel. Packing a prominent shchuka prow on the front glacis plate, the chassis is protected against 40mm APFSDS rounds—the 2S74 doesn't get composite armor, as it's not designed as a frontline vehicle. A specialized composite v-shaped undercarriage protects the vehicle from mine threats, flexing instead of breaking if pushed beyond its maximum strength. The vehicle is also equipped with both Shtora and Arena ECM systems. Shtora consists of an all-around E/O detection suite, laser dazzlers, IR dazslers, and anti-FLIR grenades. Arena, however, doesn't jam the target, it blows it out of sky altogether. Packing a Doppler radar and 26 interceptor missiles, Arena can engage anything from RPGs to ATGMs. Upgrades Opekun Hardkill ECM While Arena functions well, it's old—too slow to target hypersonic missiles, nor can it engage more than one incoming projectile. To solve this, the Imperium designed a next-generation active defense system: Opekun. Translating into “Guardian,” Opekun is a next-generation hardkill ECM that uses a hemispherical IR suite and a LADAR to detect and target threats. Thanks to a trajectory calculation system, it will ignore all threats that are unable to hit the vehicle (unlike Arena that shot at everything in range). Then, it's up to four clusters of eighteen interceptors to blow it out of the sky. Opekun can process up to twenty targets and reacts fast enough to take out Mach 3+ missiles. Mobility The 2S74, like the rest of its chassis family, mounts a 50-liter direct-injected twin-turbocharged diesel V-12 engine. The engine, along with its dedicated damage control armor and fire suppressant equipment, sits in the front of the vehicle, right behind the ultra-thick glacis plate. It's mated to an electric generator, which converts the engine's 1750 horses into electricity to power the tank's four independent tracks (to reduce the possibility of a mobility-kill) via eight electric motors, each putting out 180 horsepower. Thanks to reduced weight, the 2S74 can reach 70kmph on a paved road, while 45kmph is retained on rough surfaces, and do it with just half the fuel consumption. The 2S74 carries an integral underbelly bulldozer blade, allowing it to make its own hull-down position. Upgrades None. Category:Blog posts